Police check on a train, 2025, Geneva

We have received the following report on the handling of a small quantity in Geneva. In his report, Stef compares how it was handled in the past and how it is handled today. A huge difference! We are pleased that we as an Association, together with other committed individuals, have been able to contribute to this change.

I would like to thank Sven and the whole team at Legalize it! from the bottom of my heart for the work you have done in Geneva and other cities in Switzerland. Here's why:

Last week I traveled with my partner by train from Geneva. I also had a small piece of hashish in my bag. Suddenly I saw five police officers boarding the train with a dog. As we all know, dogs are man's best friend… But because of its keen sense of smell, it's certainly not the best friend of cannabis users. The dog came up to me and “marked” me, i.e. it showed in its own way that it had smelled “something”.

I had carefully wrapped my piece in cellophane and washed my hands afterwards, but I guess that wasn't enough, because the smell of hashish is persistent. When the police officers saw the dog's reaction, they asked me if I had “something special” on me. I was briefly tempted to throw the dose out of the train as the door was still open, or swallow it, but I decided to be honest and told them I had a 1 gram piece of hash on me. They took it from me and checked our IDs.

I thought to myself: “At least they will take the goods away from me and charge me a monetary penalty or even more…” To my great surprise, they told me that everything was fine and even gave me the small item back. “Goodbye sir, and have a nice day”, and that was all …

I was very pleasantly surprised, because ten years ago, when I was “doing a little shopping in the street”, I was arrested, handcuffed and taken to the police station, where I was subjected to a search - hello humiliation - and a really unpleasant interrogation by police officers, who weren't particularly nice that time, but well, that's not what they're paid for. They also wanted me to denounce the dealer, but they're still waiting for the answer…

In short, I was treated like a quasi-criminal for a quantity weed that didn't even reach four grams, and of course they imposed a monetary penalty on me and, to top it all off, they denounced me to the DMV, even though I have a driver's license but never drive. This was also because a Geneva politician, whose name I won't mention, had given instructions to take special action against consumers. That didn't work, by the way, mainly because there are a lot of consumers in Geneva who don't give up any information when they are arrested. The result of this policy was that the police wasted a lot of time and therefore money on trivial matters and finally decided to devote themselves to more important matters than simply chasing stoners.

What a change in ten years! I would therefore like to express once again my infinite gratitude to Sven and the entire team at Legalize it!, who have worked hard to ensure that the simple possession of hashish and weed (maximum 10 grams) is no longer severely punished.

Once again, a big thank you and bravo to you, even though the fight for legalization is not over yet and there is still a long way to go.

Long live free cannabis!

Stef de Genève